Network events
Network Forum 2023: recordings and resources
Creating safe spaces for street-connected children
Speakers:
- Khadija Lawan, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer, Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Nigeria
- Bridget Idoko, Project Officer, Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Nigeria
- Vi Duy Do, CEO, Blue Dragon Foundation, Vietnam
- Gia To, Senior Social Work Practitioner, Vietnam
In this session we heard from Khadija and Bridget from Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative who are running programmes for female street hawkers in Kano, Nigeria. They explained how they have made the community itself a safer space through engaging local leadership and setting up a voluntary community committee as well as how the girls they work with have set up their own peer-led safe spaces in the community where girls can learn about GBV and other issues. We also heard from Vi Duy Do and Gia To about their work to create safe spaces in Hanoi, their ‘Early Warning System’ to educate children of the risks of human trafficking and exploitation and work with police and other local authorities in both ‘source’ provinces and in Hanoi.
Approaches to national and local network building
Read the headcounting methodology report
Speakers:
- Tijani Mahmoud, Muslim Family Counselling Services, Ghana
- Gilbert Asiedu, Center Coordinator, Chance for Children, Ghana
In this session we heard from Tijani Mahmoud and Gilbert Asiedu, about their work to build both national and local networks, including successes and challenges and future plans. We also heard from the speakers about the process they went through to establish these networks, and in particular, how they identified other organisations with similar goals and objectives. Participants also had the opportunity to take part in a short workshop focusing on developing network plans to strengthen their own network building.
Our Annual Memorial Lecture: Exploring Justice for Street-Connected Children with International Expert Cédric Foussard and CSC’s Chief Executive, Pia MacRae
Speakers:
- Cédric Foussard, Advocacy and Global Learning Senior Advisor, Terre des Hommes
- Pia MacRae, CEO Consortium for Street Children
This year’s Roger Hayes and Maggie Eales memorial lecture was delivered by Cedric Foussard, in conversation with CSC’s Chief Executive, Pia MacRae. Cédric is an expert on justice for children, working at international level. He is currently coordinator of the Global Initiative on Justice with Children and he is Advocacy and Global Learning Senior Advisor for the Terre des Hommes Foundation. For almost two decades, he has been working on the improvement of child justice systems all over the globe in order to bring a global approach to children’s rights, especially for children in conflict with the law. He has contributed to several international and European publications on access to justice for children, and we are delighted that he joined us to speak on the theme and street-connected children’s experiences of the police and discrimination within the justice system.
Law Enforcement and street-connected children: approaches to trust-building
Speakers:
- Pia MacRae, CEO, Consortium for Street Children
- Meindert Schaap, Executive Director, Amani Centre for Street Children, Tanzania
- Rose Kagoro, Strategy Liaison Manager, Railway Children, Tanzania
- Mussa Mgata, Executive Director, Railway Children, Tanzania
- Pete Kent, Programme Development Director, Railway Children, UK
- Dr Ingi Lusmen, Southampton Policy Unit
- Professor Jana Kreppner, Southampton Policy Unit
In this session we heard from Railway Children Tanzania and UK, Amani Kids, and Southampton Policy to explore the reasons for breakdown in trust between children in street situations and law enforcement officials, as well as looked at approaches to building trust between law enforcement officials and street connected children.
Presenting the Malezi Bora positive parenting research project in Eldoret, Kenya
Speakers:
- Rebecca Ogara, Peer Navigator, Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH) Kenya
- Evans Okal, Volunteer Social Workers, INUKA Pamoja Initiative
- Kathleen Murphy, Doctoral Student and Project Manager, University of Oxford, Department of Social Policy and Intervention
In Eldoret, Kenya, many street-connected young people have children of their own and raise them on the streets. With frequent violence against women and children experienced within the street community, there is an urgent need (and expressed desire from the street community) to address both types of violence that can be offered through improving parenting support.
Building on the Malezi Bora programme, an evidence-informed parenting programme previously delivered with and for street-connected mothers in Eldoret, this project seeks to improve the programme by further adapting it for both female and male caregivers, to reduce family violence more wholistically for the benefit of street connected families and their communities. Seeking to explore the parenting practices, experiences, and perceptions of parents in street situations to better understand how to provide parenting support, and (b) identify barriers and facilitators to engaging male caregivers in the Malezi Bora programme. Co-presenters Rebecca Ogara, Evans Okal, and Kathleen Murphy wshared early results from this collaborative work, in efforts to co-create a parenting programme with and for street-connected parents which engages both male and female caregivers and reduces family violence.
Participatory research on street-connectedness and education
In this session, Dr Su Lyn Corcoran (Manchester Metropolitan University) presented a position paper on street-connectedness and education co-authored by Su, Dr Ruth Edmonds, VIcky Ferguson (Chance for Childhood) and Sian Wynne (CSC). The paper was informed by participatory research with practitioners working with street-connected children, mostly from within the CSC network. It explores the different ways that organisations working with street-connected children and youth support their access to education and training and the opportunities and barriers they face as part of their work. The presentation was followed by facilitated discussion.
Self care for street workers learning session
We did not record this session so that participants could feel comfortable in sharing their experiences.
If you would like to find out more about this session, please email communications@streetchildren.org
General Comment 21 Review
This session saw Consortium for Street Children share information on their Implementation Review of General Comment No. 21, which is ongoing. The session also covered the research process to date, as well as the early insights we have gathered.